Montreal is a city that is intrinsically linked with sporting prowess. From the Montreal Canadiens to the Montreal Alouettes, the city’s sporting teams exhibit some of the finest skill in the professional leagues. The city is also famous for hosting the Canadian Grand Prix, as well as being a centre for NASCAR racing.

However, you don’t have to be a professional sportsman in order to enjoy an active life in Montreal. Amateur sporting enthusiasts have plenty of ways to channel their competitive streaks in Montreal throughout the year.

Club Montréal Sport & Social (CMSS) is a great place to start for anyone looking to indulge their active side. The club offers a wide range of sports, from soccer to ultimate Frisbee. For the colder months, indoor sports include basketball, hockey, and court volleyball.

With its rich sporting heritage, Montreal is also a great city for those who prefer to enjoy the thrill of the game from the bleachers. From ice hockey to the World Gymnastics Championship, the city has plenty to offer those who like to cheer from the sidelines.

Montreal is also home to a range of other gaming activities that are ideally suited to those who like to blend a social element with the ability to channel their competitive streak. Poker players can indulge in the city’s rich offering, which includes the chance to watch the annual Premier League poker event and see how those at the top of their game perform under pressure. Poker is a particularly interesting sport to watch, given the range of styles displayed by players. While they’re all driven by an intensely competitive streak, some sit still and silent throughout the game, hiding behind sunglasses and baseball caps. Others seem happy to chatter and appear relaxed. There are also those who take on something of an attitude when they play and are happy to put down other players quite rudely when they lose a hand, like Phil Hellmuth during the 2005 WSOP event.

Of course, poker is far from the only game to generate a culture of trash talk. Boxers trade insults almost more often than they trade blows, while ice hockey players are also known for their mean tempers. Trash talk makes its way onto the soccer pitch too, with players using insults to rile the opposition. In some cases, such trash talk can have dramatic effects. When Italy’s Marco Materazzi made a derogatory remark about rival French player Zinedane Zidane’s sister in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Frenchman responded with a swift headbutt, which saw him sent off the pitch to watch his team lose from the sidelines.

While tempers in Montreal are (thankfully) rarely quite so heated, the city certainly provides plenty of activities to keep the adrenaline pumping. If even the city’s plethora of sporting and gaming activities aren’t enough to satisfy residents’ competitive inclinations, there’s the Abraska treetop obstacle course (which can be played at night for added excitement), extreme flyboarding and racing to the top at Clip and Climb.